Need help on creating a dvd style menu system for a collection of avi files

[Bulletbrain]

I looove the great menu system they have in DVD's these days. All the videos and sounds playing in the background, Chapter selection, Animated menus etc..

So I have tons of avi files (Mostly Divx/Xvid TV eps) and usually I just burn them as a data disk dvd. I was wondering whether you guys know a way(A guide , software etc) to create a dvd style menu system for a collection of avi files? I don't want to convert the avi's to dvd and I wont be playing these on a DVD player( mine doesn't support Divx ) Any help will be rewarded with a cookie.

Thanks in advance. :cheers:

 

[MRG]

95% of all DVD Burners come with Nero. With it, you can do exactly what you are wanting to. If for some reason you don't have Nero, you can download it here: http://www.nero.com/enu/Downloads.html.

There are quite a few programs available.
http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,1874,652761,00.asp

A massive listing of programs.
http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/Forums/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=896

These are just a few of the hundreds of sites out there to choose from. Let me know if they help. If not, i'll get you more info.

-MRG

 

[Asus]

You might be able to make something like that in flash if you just are going to play it on your PC. Sorta like how Audio CDs sometimes have a data track containing video. It auto starts the flash menu when you pop it in the cd drive.

Don't know of any program that just walks ya through building a non-dvd menu though.

 

[Bulletbrain]

MRG, thanks for the quick reply but I think you misunderstood me.

Most of the programs there requires whatever files you are burning to be converted to DVD files (i.e .VOB files) first. If you do that creating a fancy menu system is easy.

The thing is I dont want to convert my avi's to DVD's, mostly because of the huge increase in file size. I want to have my avi just as they are files but with a fancy menu system.

For example lets say I want to create a Prison Break Season set. One ep is approx. 350MB and with 22 episodes in total I can easily burn it to 2 dvds ( But if I convert it to VOB it will take like 8!!). So what I want is a sort of frontend system so when I pop the dvd into the drive it autoplays a title screen (maybe the title sequence) and then shows a menu where you can play episodes, install the codec etc...I like to have a looping sequence in the background of the menus too.

Is there any program that can do these things? Or I am I going to have to accept the inevitable?

@Asus - Hey cant I use the program those game devs use to create their autorun menus? The example that is at the top of my mind is the Doom 3 autorun menu... I think it was called Demoshield or something... might be expensive though

 

[Asus]

Not sure. hehe

Just wondering, what resolution are the AVI files?

 

[Bulletbrain]

err.... 624*352.

But they are really quite good quality. HDTV rips you know. Most guys at the "films, TV and DVD" section swear by them...

EDIT -Thinking about the problem, I don't think its worth the effort. Who needs a fancy menu anyway!? I certainly don't!! *Breaks down and cries*

 

[Asus]

A lot of videos that are not already 720x480 I usually end up encoding at 352x480 2mb/s VB (with TMPGEnc). Looks similar to a 720x480 encode when viewing on an analog TV. Still not too bad on a digital screen. A lot smaller file sizes vs DVDs encoded at 720x480 6-9mb/s. Wonder how many DVD's your videos would take up then. I used to use this format when putting video on CDs too. Get at least 45mins to a 700MB disk.

 

[Bulletbrain]

Asus, I am waaaay below your league regarding encoding. In fact I am a complete newb on encording.

Anyway those files I have are 624x352 @ a Bitrate of 1128kbps. The source being a 720p direct feed... So I guess your format being 352x480 2mb/s seems to have half the resolution but double the bitrate. What affects the size of files more? The bitrate or the resolution? Similarly what affects the quality more?

A screeny of your format would be nice... Just for comparisons sake.Here is one of mine.

 

[Asus]

Since the resolution is smaller it wouldn't be quite as sharp. And I don't think any of my stuff in 352x480 is widescrreen. As for the bitrate, the Mpeg2 format just needs more data than Xvid or other compressed AVI files to get the same picture.

If you just watch them on the PC then I'd just leave them how you have it.